A chimpanzee paradise, where fantasy mountains and forests rise out of Lake Tanganyika.

The final hour of your journey to this far flung Garden of Eden is by boat on a cobalt blue lake, stretching 500 miles north to south and a mile below. As the fishing villages thin out and mountains rise, you begin to sense how much you've left behind. Time slows down in the silence of no roads for a hundred miles. The beauty is irrepressible. We’ve seen hunting dog on these beaches, bushbuck, even the pennant-winged night-jar.

Life here is a hedonistic wilderness cocktail. In the forest, as well as a completely wild-living, but habituated group of chimpanzees, live nine other species of primate, leopards and a host of shy forest creatures. Around them, streams are strung with vines, ripening fruit and jasmine flowers. By the beaches, with tropical fish around them like butterflies, hippopotami bob in its clear waters.

Mahale National Park

Mahale is an idyllic lost world; few other people ever see the magical forest, mountain waterfalls, and the gin-clear lake.

map of Mahale National Park
Greystoke

Greystoke

Chada

Chada

Expeditionary walking camp

Expeditionary walking camp

Complete escapism awaits at newly opened Mkombe’s House, the only private house in Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park.

The hugely respected Nomad Tanzania…have chosen to build in an area of acacia trees and kigelia trees... six large canvas tents stand in a line that traces the run of the river and are spaced to ensure privacy... they are also equipped for comfort, with hot bucket showers and enormous beds.

The majority of safari camps and lodges are not set up for young children, but this exclusive-use sister property to the eight-room Lamai Serengeti was designed especially for them: there are two fenced-off pools (including one for infants and toddlers), the staff cook to order and game drives are when it suits.

Low-impact Entamanu is set slightly apart, but close enough to have astonishing views into the crater bowl and the Serengeti behind (the name means “circle” in the Masai language).

For people seeking a next level Africa adventure, this is it.

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